2008 was a disgraceful year for The Bat and it doesnt look like 2009 will be any the better for me. I really miss my old power days but since entering the real world I just can't keep myself together enough to train.

Quick news update seeing as I have been away soooo long and I miss VF and all my VF friends so much

Over the holidays I was in a cold and filthy ex-sheep-shearing shed gutting it and then making it into an outdoor classroom - lots of pretty intense work both endurance and strength, and actually a fun way to spend the holidays but no other exericise. Since then I have moved 25min drive out of my little Wales town and I now live properly properly out in the middle of nowhere in a beautiful house. Problem is that I keep failing my driving tests so I am reliant on my boyfriend to get me to work and therefore the gym to do any sport other than running. I still have a million jobs: Gym instructor (I do personal training for women who want to do free weights and I love it :D:D:D:D ), lifeguard, climbing wall instructor, secretary, science tutor for undergrads, Operations manager , make-up artist, catering manager and junior instructor for CRT medical ... and I still try to have a personal life with my boyfriend, his little boy, a very fat cat our landlady has left in the house we are renting, and 6 chickens that my boyfriend saved from a battery egg farm and which I think are the sweetest little things I have ever seen - really love the chickens. I have properly abandoned my PhD now too.

Sportswise - the last few weeks I have launched myself into sport again - so I am running 2-4 times per week, swimming 2-4 times per week, doing powerlifting (ahem but the weights are so small its embarrassing - let's call it form work) 2-3 times per week, and a little bit of wall climbing during my classes. Of course I am always running around so much for my jobs (and chickens) that I am never exactly sedentary and unfit. I am really enjoying selling my lifestyle and image and getting personal training clients and doing free weights inductions

Not sure what my goals are at the moment. I am reallly really really badly missing the strength scene but not sure if I have the time and commitment to go back to it. I also miss my mad weekends camping and walking in Snowdonia mountains but never have the time between jobs to get up there. I need some goals in sport and in life as I feel like a bit of a failure at teh moment. No PhD, no driving licence, no real job aspirations and constantly getting walked over in work etc... Not sure how to get that confidence that was Fruitbat's signature characteristic back and I miss that bouncy smily happy (and slightly) side of me. I also miss the hardcoreness in my life too.

Last edited by Fruitbat on Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"she was my better half and I was just a dog"
"I don't have a drinking problem except when I can't get a drink"
"No, the moon ain't romantic, it's intimidating as hell
And some guy's trying to sell me a watch"
-- Tom Waits Bad Liver and a Broken Heart

hey wow!! sounds like you have a really interesting and varied life, with a lot of skills to boot!! something to be proud of. i can relate to feeling a bit lost, i finished uni a few months ago and i dont really know what i am doing with myself, or what i should be doing! hang in there, i'm sure you'll work out where it is you want to go, or even if you dont, hope you have a lot of fun during the 'journey'!

hi guys - good to see my old friends still remember who i am. I can't wait for internet to come back to me at my new house so I can properly surf VF again.

Yesterday Swimfit class was really hard work - I was dying! I got put in the best swimmers' lane and we were doing interval training and it was hard hard work. Swam 66 lengths in total but it broke down like this:

Warm-up 200m (8lengths) crawl200m back stroke50m backstroke kick

14x 100m (4lengths)Sets 1-4 Medium pace crawlSets 4-8 Sprint on last lengthSets 9-12 Easy for first two and faster for last 2Sets 13-14 Increasing intensity each length.

Cool-down 50m sculling

Today I had my first PT with my second female free weights client and it was good